Hithertobefore, principally, gluten has been produced according to Martin process or dough-ball process, wherein wheat flour is mixed with a volume of water, the resulting mixture is then kneaded into a dough and the dough is allowed to stand for a while until the gluten product and also the starch substance have well been hydrated to form a hydrated wheat flour mass, which is then repeatedly washed with volumes of water further added, to separate the vital gluten and the milky starch substance from the resulting dough-like, hydrated flour mass. Or alternatively, gluten has been produced according to Batter process, wherein wheat flour is mixed with a larger volume of water and the resulting mixture is then kneaded to form a smooth and elastic batter, which is then allowed to stand for a while and subsequently washed with a 2-fold to 5-fold volume of water to give the vital gluten in the form of small curd-like aggregates, along with the milky starch substance, and wherein the gluten aggregates and the milky starch substance are separated from each other by passing through a vibrating screen of 60-150 mesh so that the curd-like, vital gluten is recovered.
The conventional vital gluten products which have been produced by the above-mentioned prior art methods, generally find many and different applications, for instance, for the preparation of baked solid wheat gluten based-bread (called "Fu" in Japanese), the production of sodium glutamate as a seasoning agent, the preparation of a gluten hydrolysate containing amino acids for use as an extender for Japanese soy sauce (called "Sho-yu" in Japanese), the production of new proteinous food products and the like. As one of the many applications of the vital gluten, the addition of the vital gluten to farinaceous bread flour to improve its bread-making properties is also known. However, the effects of the conventional vital gluten for the improvement of the bread-making properties of the farinaceous bread flour are still not satisfactory.
Further, it is also known that some proteinaceous materials are added to the farinaceous bread flour to provide a high protein bread (U.K. Pat. Nos. 1,074,087 and 1,472,738, for example) and that one of the modified gluten products comprising the reaction product of vital gluten and xanthan gum or a hydrophobic liquid is added to the farinaceous bread flour in order to improve the properties of the bread product (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,198,438 and 4,396,637).
Furthermore, it is known that an oxidizing agent such as L-ascorbic acid, potassium bromate and others; a reducing agent such as glutathione, cystein and the like; enzymes such as amylase, protease and the like; and an emulsifier such as aliphatic acid esters of glycerine, aliphatic acid esters of saccharide and the like, as well as wheat flour protein such as certain activated gluten are used as the bread improver or bread-improving additive for improving the breadmaking properties of the farinaceous bread flour (see, for example, Japaense Patent Publication No. 29685/86; U.K. Pat. No. GB 2126867B; and "Cereal Chemistry" Vol. 57, No.3, pp. 169-174 (1980); Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 384-391 (1981), published from The American Association of Cereal Chemists).
These known bread improvers are yet not satisfactory as their effects of improving the properties of bread are not sufficient, and as some of the known bread improvers can occasionally give rise to unfavorable flavor and taste of the bread products.
In these circumstances, the demand is lasting for new modified gluten product or new bread improvers which can satisfactorily improve the properties of bread products and other bakery products.
We, the present inventors, earlier have made reaserches in an attempt to provide new bread improvers which can exert satisfactorily the better effects for improving the properties of bread. As a result, earlier we have found that when the known process of preparing gluten from wheat flour is carried out in such a modified manner that one or more oxidizing agents are added to the raw wheat flour and the resulting mixture is then kneaded with addition of water to form a dough-like or batter-like kneaded mixture of hydrated wheat flour, the oxidizing agent and water, it is possible to recover or separate a new, modified gluten product from said dough-like or batter-like kneaded mixture by washing this kneaded mixture repeatedly with water and isolating the water-insoluble gluten fraction from the water-insoluble starch fraction or starchy material and also from the water-soluble fraction existing in said kneaded mixture of the hydrated wheat flour, the oxidizing agent and water, and that the modified gluten product so recovered or separated is useful as a bread-improver, namely as the additive for improving both the bread-making properties of the flour and the properties of bread or other bakery products, such as the volume, the crumb structure or texture, the crumb smootheness or chewing mouth feel and the external appearance of bread.
Further, we earlier have found that when the above-mentioned new modified gluten product is recovered or separated from the dough-like or batter-like kneaded mixture of the hydrated flour, the oxidizing agent and water, it is also possible to recover separately a water-soluble proteinaceous fraction or substance from the water-insoluble starch fraction or substance existing in said dough-like or batter-like kneaded mixture, and that the water-soluble proteinaceous fraction or substance so recovered is also useful as an additive for improving the properties of the wheat flours and the bread products or other bakery products as prepared from the flours. It also has been found earlier that this water-soluble proteinaceous substance so recovered can exert their effects of improving the properties of wheat flours and bread to a satisfactory extent especially when this substance is incorporated to the farinaceous bread flour at a smaller proportion than said new water-insoluble, modified gluten product as prepared by the present inventors.
On the other hand, in recent years, various machines such as the dough divider, rounder, molding machine and so on have been employed in the process of making bread in large scale or in the industries of bakery products. Particularly, the dividing and scaling of the dough into small balls or masses and the making-up of these small masses of the dough are conducted by machines rather than by hands of men. However, when the dough masses have been divided, scaled and made-up by the mechanical working of the machines, it is likely that the bread products as prepared by baking such mechanically worked dough show a reduced volume and a reduced crumb texture, as compared to the bread products which are prepared from the hands-worked dough. Accordingly, it is desirable that the dough for making the bread is rendered to be tolerant to the mechanical workings in the sense that the bread as prepared even by baking the mechanically worked dough can still give a satisfactorily large volume and good crumb structure or texture as much as the bread as prepared from the hand-worked dough. Therefore, there exists a great demand seeking for a new bread improver which can provide a bread-making dough highly tolerant to the mechanical workings in the above sense.
As one result of our earlier researches, we have found that a proteinaceous composition comprising a mixture of the above-mentioned new modified gluten product and the above-mentioned water-soluble proteinaceous fraction or substance which both have been separated from the aforesaid kneaded mixture of the hydrated wheat flour, the oxidizing agent and water is again useful as a bread improver which can provide the bread-making dough tolerant to the mechanical workings in the sense described above.
Thus, we have earlier provided such a bread improver intended for addition to wheat flour or dough for improvement of the volume, the crumb structure and the crumb smoothness of bread, which is selected from (A) a bread improver consisting essentially of a water-insoluble, modified gluten product which is prepared by kneading a mixture of wheat flour, one or more oxidizing agents and water, then washing the resulting hydrated flour mixture so kneaded with water and separating the water-insoluble, modified gluten product from the starch and the water-soluble proteinaceous substance of said hydrated flour mixture, (B) a bread improver consisting essentailly of a water-soluble proteinaceous substance which is prepared by kneading a mixture of wheat flour, one or more oxidizing agents and water, then washing the resulting hydrated flour mixtrure so kneaded with water and separating the water-soluble proteinaceous substance from the starch, the water-insoluble, modified gluten product and the other water-insoluble matters present in said hydrated flour mixture, and (C) an bread improver consisting essentially of a proteinaceous composition which is prepared by admixing the aforesaid water-insoluble, modified gluten product (A) with the aforesaid water-soluble proteinaceous substance (B) (see Japanese patent application Nos. 96205/86; 110103/86 and 110103/86; as well as the corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 040,815; Canadian Pat. Application No. 535,418; Australian Pat. Application No. 71986/87 and European Patent Application No. 87 106023.2).
Yet, the conventional gluten products, as well as the modified gluten product as earlier provided by the present inventors are not necessarily satisfactory completely by themselves, in respect of their effects for improving the bread-making properties of farinaceous bread flour or a bread-making dough, and now there is not yet available such a gluten product which, by itself, is able to render the bread-making dough highly tolerant to the mechanical workings of the dough.